COMMISSION SEEKS FEEDBACK AND ANNOUNCES DATE OF ROUNDTABLE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SARBANES-OXLEY INTERNAL CONTROL PROVISIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2005-20

Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2005 - On Feb. 7, 2005, the Commission announced that it would host a roundtable discussion and would solicit written feedback regarding the experiences of registrants, accounting firms and others in implementing the new internal control requirements under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. See Press Release 2005-13. Today the Commission announced that the roundtable will be held on Wednesday, April 13, 2005, in the William O. Douglas Room at Commission headquarters, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., beginning at 9 a.m. The roundtable will be open to the public, on a first come, first served basis. The Commission also intends to make the roundtable available by Web cast. The Commission also announced today that interested parties may submit their written feedback on the internal control implementation process.

Section 404 and rules adopted by the Commission require companies that file annual reports with the Commission to report on management's responsibilities to establish and maintain adequate internal control over the company's financial reporting process, as well as management's assessment of the effectiveness of those internal controls. Section 404 and the auditing standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board require the accounting firm that audits the company's financial statements to report on management's assessment, as well as on the effectiveness of the company's controls.

The Commission seeks written feedback from registrants, auditors, investors and others on their experiences with implementing and evaluating the Section 404 requirements. The Commission is not soliciting feedback on a particular set of inquiries. The information that is submitted will become part of the public record of the Section 404 roundtable.

Members of the public are encouraged to provide the submissions before April 1, 2005. Submissions may be provided by any of the following methods:

All submissions should refer to File Number 4-497. This file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. To help us process and review your submissions more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all submissions on the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/news/press/4-497.shtml). All submissions received will be posted without change; we do not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly.